The problem with Audi RS5, WRC returns & Aston Martin Valhalla, with Henry Catchpole | Episode 44

RS5.

You'll get there in the end.

Just keep going around the numbers and kind of win.

Six, seven.

Three, two, one.

Welcome, everyone. Welcome to episode 44 of the Evo podcast.

I'm joined on this lovely fine day.

It's not raining for once this year.

Henry Cachepal, Dickie Meadon.

Welcome both.

Thank you very much. How are you all?

Very good. Thank you.

All good.

All good. All been busy.

Always.

I think Henry's been busier than both of us.

So we're.

Oh, right. And bicycle years.

Because it was such a nice weather.

So it was first time in, you know,

give us a nice hand.

Well, which bike?

People are going to want to know now.

Waste, waste of a good afternoon.

The worst, couldn't come to a walk or play golf.

Oh, golf, golf, golf.

Close in the back of the car as well.

Specialised tarmac SL5 S-Works with SRAM Red.

So there we go.

E-Tap.

No idea what.

There you go.

Has Pirelli tires on it.

Right, E-Tap.

That sounds like something you get.

You go into a bar and ask for it.

How does that compare with a rally grifter?

If you want to add a bottle, you want an E-Tap.

Yeah.

Rally grifter, three-speed stemi-archer.

Very similar.

Very, very similar.

Thought so.

Yeah, it's all just smoke and mirrors, isn't it?

This cycling game.

I've got a friend to lie down on my road.

Jumping with my good word and jumping it is good.

And then when I've got to drink out of a hose pipe.

Exactly.

You'd never jump a grifter, though,

because they weighed about half a tonne.

Yeah.

Well, I've talked about weight.

Weight and weight.

What? What? Look at me, then.

You've been driving.

A couple of heavy weights, which we will get to.

Audi's RS3.

Oh, no, RS5.

RS5.

You'll get there any minute.

Just keep going up the numbers and kind of work.

Six, seven.

Whee!

Wow!

What does that mean?

No, don't, don't.

Paul Sam's got editors.

It's the first thing we've said that he's understood

in three years when we said six, seven.

Yeah.

He is a print sun.

I listened to print sun and go out and he just looked at me

with a blank expression.

RS5, you've been driving.

I have been driving RS5.

And you've been driving Valhalla.

You've both been driving.

We have.

Captain Martin and Valhalla,

which the embargo lifted a couple of days ago

if you're listening to this in a timely fashion.

What should we start with, then?

What should we start with?

Well, it's sort of something.

Return of rally.

Yeah, something to worry about.

Whee!

Nice to hear that.

That's why Henry's here.

He wants to talk.

Yeah, let's start with that,

because that's actually very timely and quite exciting.

WRC is coming back to UK shores.

Coming back to Scotland.

Aberdeen, I believe.

It's, yeah, I don't think anybody,

it kind of came slightly out of left field

at the end of the safari rally.

I know they'd been talking about pitching for it,

hadn't they, for a while,

but it seemed like it was kind of sort of all,

they're not doing enough and it's not sort of,

we can't see it coming back for ages,

and then just suddenly, bang, there it is,

and next year as well, which is kind of...

It's quick, isn't it?

Yeah.

We hadn't really seen so, yeah, really good news.

Well, Aberdeen's got Granite City rally, haven't they,

based in Aberdeen, so I guess they've got

a network of stages immediately around Aberdeen,

but then I don't know how far into South,

into Scotland they're going.

Yeah, hasn't been, I don't think they've done much

about where it's going.

That'd be great.

It's exciting, isn't it?

We need, we as a country need,

was a nation need rallying, don't we?

I think it's a real shame when

you suddenly feel a bit left out,

and you do kind of disengage from it.

Oh, yeah.

And it's, I was doing somebody yesterday about

the fact that, you know,

we've got all the F1 stuff going on at the moment

about sort of people,

there's a lifting coast here,

there's a lot of battery management,

and the same in sort of, you know,

obviously to some extent it's kind of,

and actually rallying is generally hybrid,

you've gone back to exactly kind of what people want,

that you see somebody going down the stage.

Well, and it was a proper driving.

It was a proper old school safari rally as well,

wasn't it?

All the mudding, bits of the car flying off

the left front of the centre.

You've got to read the road,

it's not sort of, you know,

however much video stuff you watch,

it's not going to help you kind of,

you get to this piece of mud hole,

and yeah, and then,

I think that kind of,

that kind of footage,

I know we're all guilty of consuming stuff

in bite-sized chunks on Instagram,

or whatever, aren't we?

But even that,

the safari stuff was like,

holy shit, that's,

they can't have expected it to be quite that extreme,

because the cars were absolutely rooted,

weren't they, by the time they finished?

Because of the cars we've got now as well,

because they're kind of,

seeing a feature of a spec car,

underneath to some extent,

so it means they can't probably prepare them

quite the way they would have done in the past.

Well, it would have been a completely different car,

wouldn't it?

A spoke car, wouldn't it?

Just for safari,

and probably left there in bits,

because it couldn't do anything else.

Much heavier, I guess,

and more sturdy construction.

Yeah, and they're saying the WRC2,

or Rally2 cars,

were actually standing up to it all much better,

because they're a slightly tougher design,

in some respects.

Yeah, that Kenya footage looked,

well, it took you back,

it sounded like old fast,

but it took you back 20 years, didn't it?

Well, it looked like the shots

from the decline calendars, didn't it?

While coming towards you,

you just covered in mud,

just with the wipers going,

and at a weird angle,

just trying to drag it out the nuts and stuff.

Yeah, that looks a bit tastler.

It's really good, so.

But yeah, Scotland's great.

It's really, really good.

It's really exciting, isn't it?

And I think that it should give our,

well, United Kingdom drivers a boost, shouldn't it?

Because there's more focus on the sport,

and there's a greater incentive

to try and progress,

and responses to engage,

and it's a good thing.

Yeah, we've got a lot of Brits in WRC,

sort of, at the moment.

Yeah, but they're hidden, aren't they?

Yeah.

Because it doesn't come here.

You do need, it's a bit like with WEC as well,

isn't it, with Mike Conway in Toyota.

Yeah.

Endlessly winning titles, Anthony Davison,

the ex-wet world champion.

But it's something that happens somewhere else, isn't it?

Yeah.

It feels very remote.

From Nick Tandy with winning everything,

and you have to be an endurance racing geek

to appreciate just what achievement it is.

And it's the same with Elfin Evans,

and the rest is that what they're achieving in WRC is,

if it doesn't happen on your shores,

you're kind of not aware of it.

And if you think of the motorsport,

how rich motorsport is in the UK,

how much we've got,

it's actually only Formula One that gets all,

but all the teams,

and we talk about motorsport,

valley and over in Oxfordshire and stuff.

But they're not just F1 teams.

There's world endurance teams.

There's a lot of the Radical engineering is done in the UK,

or by specialists in the UK.

The drivers, the loads of Bricks in the team.

There's loads of Radical stuff as well as...

But yeah, because it's not here,

unless you really follow it.

So if they said anything about the likely route,

or just that it's...

I mean, is it confirmed, 100% confirmed?

Yeah, it seems to be all over the WRC.

So it's all rubber stamped.

It's all rubber stamped.

Yeah, DR and Malcolm, they were outside HQ

and sort of celebrating it, which is great.

Any idea when in the calendar,

because obviously traditionally it was always

pretty much the last round of the year,

which made it better,

because the weather was unpredictable.

Well, yeah, it'd be great if it wasn't November, wasn't it?

Yeah.

But I'm wondering if Aberdeen in November could be...

I'd probably...

That'd be great.

I think they need extreme...

I know they've got extremes of weather

with some of the Middle Eastern rounds

and Scandinavian rounds,

but I think the...

If it could show such extremes of terrain and weather...

It's what everybody wants, isn't it?

It's what you think of and kind of...

Yeah, if you do it in the summer, it'd just be a bit...

It's like a wet Grand Prix, isn't it?

And then it allows different drivers to shine

or just the random jeopardy of rallying

sort of takes over, doesn't it?

Yeah, exactly.

I was just looking what wasn't being read,

it wasn't ignoring me.

You were ordering your weekly shot, weren't you, Steve?

Yeah, basically,

ordering some more medication for the latest injury.

WRC coming back,

but there's still no wet ground in the UK.

ELMS is returning to Silverstone,

but again, it's just going back to that point,

doesn't it?

It feels like missing a trick really.

You've got Silverstone sat there with...

It has one week a year of a big, blue-rivened event.

I know there's touring cars and there's...

It's still called Silverstone Festival

or Silverstone Classic or Carfest

or whatever it's called now.

Yeah, it's Carfest this year, I think, but...

But you feel how...

This is motorsport UK,

so obviously with the world of politics

of interfering with motorsport,

of where rounds go and where races and events are,

if they manage to get a WRC round

back to the UK,

can they get a wet ground back to Silverstone,

which would be fantastic.

You hope David Richards could flex

some of his influence and enthusiasm,

wouldn't you?

I'm sure that's worked with the rally stuff,

but for motorsport UK to have

some sort of push towards your lobbying for rounds.

I don't know.

It generally comes down to money, doesn't it?

Yes, it comes down to money,

and he's prepared to support it

to put it on because these things

aren't achieved to put on.

It's not...

There's manufacturers in all of these events,

but they don't have bottomless pits of cash

to pay for the TV, to pay for the infrastructure.

They just want rallying to get stronger, generally, don't they?

There's the cars are cool,

but there aren't enough of them in the top level.

I think James...

It doesn't really, again, haven't occurred to me

because I haven't been to watch a rally for a long time,

but when James Taylor,

one of our colleagues, went to Monte Carlo,

he was quite shocked because you're there

watching the stage, and then eight or nine

of the top-tier cars go through,

and then, oh, that's...

That's it.

That's it, and then you've got the sort of

secondary categories go through,

which are still cool, but it's not really

what you go there for, is it?

I don't know how they address that.

No, I mean, then the new set of regulations

coming out is what that's aimed at,

sort of bringing more manufacturers in

because it's not in a great state at all.

You've kind of got...

Sorry, the new regs got a price cap

or a budget cap on them,

because that's always going to be the...

But the cars get so complex,

only a manufacturer's team can afford to run them,

so you don't get that trickle down.

I think that's why they stripped the hybrid out,

or something else, to reduce the complexity and cost.

Exactly, and it was because that was a part

you had to buy in, you know, it was a separate...

Yeah, plug and play, and it wasn't really

renewable enough, and drivers getting annoyed

because it was out of their hands

that this thing they had no control over

was letting them down.

So, yeah, there's been a lot of

back and forth about what

happens now in terms of

just making the cars simpler,

because that's what, seemingly, everybody wants.

Standing at the side of the stage,

whether it's one of the Rally 1 cars

that goes past, or one of the Rally 2 cars,

if it's filled around two cars,

you don't really notice that much of a difference.

No, it's the driver.

It's the people who drive the wheels off it, then.

Yeah, you're as invested in the driver

as you are in the car, I think, aren't you?

Exactly.

And if all the cars are the same,

they're all going to look equal-pace, aren't they?

It's the same as if you were at an endurance race.

If they're filled with L and P1 cars,

they all look the same,

and they sound the same, and they're all going...

But if they're all P2 cars, they're still going to look...

Or GT cars.

GT cars at the Nurburgring still look spectacular,

isn't it?

Just need that.

You don't want that big.

Here's Rally 1, and then here's the rest,

because the transition is too big, isn't it?

I wonder if the problem with rallying is there...

It's going to sound like an old dinosaur here,

but there is no relevance,

even with a Yaris,

there is absolutely no relevance to a road product

when, actually,

they are the only sort of

world-level motorsport category

that are road-legal cars, aren't they?

Which, again, you bring it back to rally 2,

while they're based on, fundamentally, a road car.

It should be something...

But the road car, there isn't...

There isn't a derivative of a road car

that you can pin on it being the same as a rally 2 car.

There is a Fabia 130.

Well, I suppose the Yaris is the closest thing.

Big, lumpy, small crossovers,

because they're about the only models

that people make now.

I just remember...

A bit like touring cars, I suppose,

but I can remember way back when,

the sort of performance car days,

and having an impressive turbo long-term test car,

and driving up and following the rally,

and that's when it was England, Wales,

and Scotland.

On the M6, in your green, impressed with its PC stickers,

we were in a higher fit at Punto,

because our XR4, I blew its head gasket.

So you had to go higher at Punto

for four of us to drive around.

But that's what you used.

It was the sort of winter equivalent

of everyone driving out to Le Mans, wasn't it?

I think the rally was something you could either

really commit to it and try and chase the whole thing,

or you'd just devote a couple of days

and head out into the wilds of Wales or...

But it was, wasn't it?

There was like a convoy of...

You had porters and lotuses and Ferraris

going to Le Mans in the summer,

and then you had all the Escort Cosworths,

Safar Cosworths in Pretzers,

someone who'd imported...

Those that had imported Evo 3s and 4s,

all going up the M6 to Chester.

Yeah, you would see you could spot

people a mile off, couldn't you?

And the whole, I hate getting up in the morning,

but I used to love the early start,

try and find your way to the sort of stage entry,

and then walk in, get far enough in

before the marshal started telling you to,

and then you'd wait, and then you'd hear a car,

and then it was this...

It's a proper mini adventure, isn't it?

Such an evocative thing to do.

Well, we used to...

Before we had the luxury of taking someone's Dad's XR4,

a 4x4 bike, I can't believe I've read it anyway,

blew up, left us stranded in Scotland.

It's the key factor.

Yeah, that's why I do so well.

We used to have a diesel engine,

as they were, a Series 3 Defender,

with a canvas back,

tow a caravan,

parked in the car park in Chester,

next to the river,

and that would be our base for the week,

and then follow it all the way up to Kilda,

all the way through Wales.

Blimey.

Yeah, it was horrific.

That's committed.

Never do it again.

Yeah, we did it for three years.

Then I convinced them,

actually, maybe we should stay in the hotel.

That's what travel lodges were invented for.

Yeah.

But yeah, that was the winter equivalent of Le Mans.

But it was, I remember, you know,

Sunday morning in Chester High Street,

with the start,

all the cars coming over the ramps.

It was just...

Yeah.

There was nothing like it,

and you wanted to get there early,

so you could get in front of the barriers,

and then, yeah, you would drive to the stage,

and you'd go,

well, that's the stage entrance,

but we don't want to be at the stage entrance.

Where's the best bit to be?

How far along do you need to drive?

Maybe go into the end,

and walk in from the other end of the stage.

And then you wanted to go,

which stage are you going to leapfrog

to then get to the next stage,

and where do you want to be?

It's a great thing to do.

It's a really good thing to do.

I did Rally Castle Nune a couple of years ago

with Tosun,

and been to Rally for decades.

And it was just great to...

I think until you see the cars

stood at the side of the road,

you under-appreciate how fast the cars are,

and how the drivers,

what they're threading those cars at such speed,

and that was obviously on tarmac stage as well.

It was spectacular.

But I do think Rally's been a victim of its own sort of TV success.

Oh, let's do everything from a helicopter

and everything from an onboard,

and you lose all of that sense of drama and speed

because it's just one long tracking shot.

You would have thought with...

I remember traipsing into a stage,

and the TV crews were there

with proper big old cameras and trucks.

It was much harder to film a rally in the 90s,

but I think we got better footage

and better programs,

whereas now you could film everything from everywhere.

But I think that's the same thing.

You see Formula One on boards now,

and it's kind of a nothing looks as exciting

as seeing the actually slightly shaky camera

that cuts out when you go under a bridge,

and you see there was something so visceral about that

that kind of brought it alive.

And they said as well that a lot of the fan cam footage

from the Rally's is actually more exciting.

It's the most comprehensive stuff, isn't it?

Like for Rally Finland,

when all those people stood really close

and the car comes apart,

you get a much greater sense of proximity and speed,

which is what you...

Which you don't get anymore from the official...

It feels quite lawless, actually, rallying,

which I like.

It's like this...

Not shouldn't be allowed,

but everything's so separated, isn't it now,

and designated spots for cameras and spectator areas.

And this is...

I can still walk down here,

and someone's going to come fangin' past.

We were still on the stage,

and it's quite a famous stage,

and I have no idea what the name is.

It's got a roundabout on it.

But we could just stand by the Enco,

which was just the road Enco,

and you can get amazing access

and just watching these cars,

and that real sense of seeing them move,

and they're coming down at high-speed braking area,

donuts roundabout if they knew they weren't going to do very well,

or if they were still on it,

just the angles they were getting as they're coming out of the roundabout.

But you don't get any of that on the official footage,

because it's too centralised,

and we'll just send that one chopper and use on-board footage.

Yeah, I think it's a strange thing,

because they're probably catering to...

I don't know, they're catering to a different audience,

in some respects,

and they've got to almost document the value.

If they focused on just getting the kind of,

cool passing shot from one particular place,

then you haven't kind of,

you're then leaving people frustrated.

It was like, well, I want to see the kind of,

you've got those amazing on-boards now

and kind of being able to see...

It's that...

And I know that they're so restricted in terms of costs

and actually the jobs they do in terms of just getting the...

It doesn't help that the cars aren't...

There's that famous in-car with Colin McRae's

that they're in a focus.

I came up with it the other day.

And the cars were so much looser, weren't they?

It was like really big steering inputs

and having to do a lot of work

to make the car change direction.

And just the whole thing looked really totally on the edge

in a...

I don't even...

Can't even interpret exactly what he's doing.

And then you look at the modern stuff

and it's blisteringly fast and ultra precise, isn't it?

And you can't believe the speeds they're doing

and how close to time, stage times are

over such long distances.

But the cars are absolutely planted, aren't they?

Well, that's how they appear from the angles you get.

So the stuff you do miss is the much more raw edgy.

It needs that grit, doesn't it, really?

Well, the other focus on board, it popped up on my feed the other day

and it starts off, it's quite...

It's flat out, it's 6th all the way through.

And it's just sort of doing that, isn't it?

It's flat out and it's from all corrections.

And then it's not just...

Oh, I need to put a bit of luck.

It just goes from that to full.

But he's getting more and more into it, isn't he?

And then he's saying from that point onward.

Because he would test the grip on the way

into the corner, basically.

So it's kind of that...

Because you watch Burns...

I think Burns was actually quicker through that same stage.

He was in the heat to buy, wasn't he?

Kind of like they do now.

Lobe did.

So he was...

They were so different in terms of their styles.

I've never seen something from Chris Meek

sort of pulled apart what Colin was doing

throughout the same stage.

So you can see he's kind of chucking in early,

feel the grip before he gets to the point of

kind of rather than doing what you sort of...

I think you could always tell in his driving

when the car was going well and he was on it.

He was just in...

Obviously wanted to win the rally or win the stage.

But he was having such a brilliant time.

It's like, oh, this looks like a good corner.

I'll plug it in here rather than trying to

plot the neatest possible line.

This is going to look spectacular.

I think that's what you kind of...

miss because all of those characters are still there.

I think Oliver Solberg is probably that kind of

slightly unhinged, brilliantly quick driver

who will, if he can win the stage

and entertain people, he will do that.

But if he can't win the stage, he's just going to entertain.

And I love that.

And I think it's a shame the cars

don't allow people to...

the difference in personality and style.

And Calle was the same with that.

Yeah, it doesn't have...

The cars don't reflect the characters of the drivers.

But it's the nature of them, isn't it?

With Downforce and everything else.

They encourage a particular way of driving, I guess.

Just like any modern racing car now.

Is it GT3 cars or L&P cars?

And I still think that.

They have to move around a bit,

but that's because they look horrible to drive.

And I still think it'll move around way more than Calle.

It's like what I think on the footage,

you don't see that movement as much.

Because that much lock,

when you're absolutely flat out between barriers,

there's a lot of locks.

But it's done and gone in a flash, isn't it?

It's still so.

I went to...

I'm not sure if it was the last time,

last world's rally GB we had,

but standing up on Meharan,

kind of sunny day,

and you stood up the top there

and you could see the cars coming down

through all the wind turbines.

And there's an amazing stretch down there.

So you go down, disappear around a bit,

and then come back in front of you.

And you just think,

and you can stand, like you say,

the kind of way you want.

We want that close,

but you kind of look down on it.

And you're saying,

this is just incredible.

It's kind of,

you just want to be able to plonk people there

and say, look, this is...

But you've had to walk in through the forest

and kind of like say,

you hear them and you hear them going off in distance.

And you watch all the different lights.

Yeah, I think it's...

It's scary, but in that,

I went rally GB,

I can't remember which year

it would have been a long time ago,

certainly when Colin McRae was driving.

And we walked into the stage

and obviously there's no...

It's not like going to a racetrack

and you can see rubber light,

like to see the line.

So we're walking in, walking in, walking in,

and there wasn't really anyone around.

And we thought,

oh, there was a really, really, really long,

let's be fast left hand corner

with a camber and a bit of a ditch.

So we were tucked right down in the ditch

on the inside,

because you'd think the inside's safer than the outside.

Until the first car came through,

which was Colin McRae.

And it was...

The car was pointing at you.

At us.

Brilliant.

Fully lit.

And it was like...

The weirdest you could see,

like his eyes looking through the corner.

And then for the briefest of moments,

he must have seen us going...

And it was gone and through,

but we were like pretty much right on the apex.

It still makes the head stand up on the back of my neck now.

But it was like sketchy,

but you'd never stand there

if you'd seen a car go through.

But bugger me,

it was like literally where we were stood,

because we'd thrown ourselves up on the bank

and where our feet were,

the inside front wheel was...

Mark was literally

about that much.

And we were like,

that was great.

Scurried further up the corner,

but you only get that with rallying, don't you?

Or maybe like the TT or something.

The TT's probably the only other thing

where you get that point-blank sense

of what's going on.

But we need a road trip, don't we?

We do, yeah.

I mean, there's rallying in between.

If you haven't been,

there's still British Rally Championship going on,

that's been...

Hopefully that'll get a lift now,

kind of like that in North Sea.

Yeah, cut your teeth on some British rallying this year.

But next year, I think it should really be

in everyone's diary as the event to go to,

if it means sacrificing something else,

but we're going to pick it up now

and it would just be a damp squib,

literally.

It's the one sort of...

You've got amazing stages up in Scotland.

You just hope people do go up there

because it makes it, obviously,

that little bit more inaccessible.

I think so. I think there's a...

I think people will...

...pent-up desire to see top-level rallying

in the UK isn't there, so...

And you can make a trip of it, can't you?

Because there are so many great locations

in Scotland on the way once you get over the border.

Yep, so you can probably make a...

Because the rallies are quite condensed now.

They're not some day to sasslay anymore, are they?

They are quite condensed into...

Yeah, like three days.

Three-in-a-bit days, aren't they?

You can make a good week of driving around

Scotland and catching up.

That would be fantastic for next year.

Yeah, I haven't announced the dates,

but hopefully it will be seen.

Well, rallying, segue, perfect segue in.

So one of the cars you've been driving

and you've got a great rallying

back catalogue.

You're not talking about the Aston Martin

Vantage rally car.

No.

Audi.

Audi RS5.

So, come on then.

You're one of the few that have driven it

because Audi had quite a strange

large program for that car.

Yeah, I drove it out in Morocco

and very few people got to drive it.

But it's...

Heavy? Heavy.

Yeah, 2,370 kilos for the

Avant.

It's about 15 kilos

lighter, I think, if it's good.

You get the saloon, which looks really good.

I've driven...

Saloon is a sportback, isn't it?

Or is it a three box saloon?

No, it's more of a three box.

It's definitely...

Yeah, definitely saloon.

It's not the kind of...

RS5 Avant is more

of a kind of...

It's not quite such a sort of boxy

estate.

The old RS4s were.

So, actually, it's got less

boot space than the old

RS4 because it's got batteries under the boot as well.

That's what we got you on for to discuss boot space.

Exactly.

Only watches.

Yeah.

All of them.

But...

I think it's going to be one of those cars that

owners will really like

because it still does

that Audi RS thing

of being, I think, a great car

to live with.

And they've...

Suddenly, clearly, at a very early stage

went, right, this is going to be

a hybrid.

And I think what they've done well is actually go,

OK, so, Abe, it's going to be hybrid.

We're going to give it a proper amount of

EV

only range. So, it's 54 miles,

which is very achievable.

We actually did use it because

it was so low on fuel.

We had to come all the way back down to Marrakech.

It wasn't a PR around to refill it for you.

Oh, my gosh, no.

It's kind of annoying.

I'm going to say later at night, I don't think anything is open, but

it was...

So, you've got that, which I think

you know, if you're going to have hybrid,

make it usable unlike the C63,

which was... didn't have

a big enough battery to do that. It was all about

performance.

And I think in something like the RS5,

you've got to... if you're going to have hybrid,

make it useful rather than just about

the performance story.

But then

they've used that to then have this clever

new torque vectoring rear diff,

which they couldn't have done

without having hybrid because they need the

400-volt architecture.

This rear diff's got

its own separate electric motor on it,

which is 10 brake horsepower and 30

pounds feet

torque. And it can then

torque vector properly and push the

torque, whichever way you want,

on our throttle and kind of do all the

clever stuff.

they've made the best

of it being

a hybrid, I think, and kind of

address both ends of the spectrum

with it. It's going to be practical

performance, right? We've given it some practicality

and we've given it some performance.

So, that's the...

But you can't get away from the fact

that it is chuffing heavy.

Does it fit? I mean

we go on about the weight of all

modern cars and then have to sort of put

that caveat on. Actually, it doesn't

feel that heavy, but then all the technology

in it is masking

its weight, isn't it? Exactly.

It's...

At times you can

feel the weight because you can't go

away from that, but

it breaks very well.

You've got a good pedal feel.

It's got fairly light steering and

it's always, obviously, how that would have been known

for it, but it turns in, charred down to

13.13 to 1

steering ratio, so it's pretty quick

steering ratio.

And you've got a new rear diff, so it's

got good balance.

So it's quite stable

under braking when you're moving around.

But agile, when you... Yeah, and it's

slightly...

In Morocco, the roads out there are pretty

polished and slippery

anyway, so it was always going to move

around more easily

on those sort of roads.

We did do a little thing on

the Marrakesh

track. There's like a big

look like a car park.

Because it basically is, because it was

originally a street circuit.

And they gradually made it more and more

permanent, which really

doesn't look permanent. And we did

some...

They set out this sort of slalom course

and then a set of cones at the end to do

some donuts. I think that's what I saw

some video footage of that. It did

look a bit like a hippo on roller skates.

Yeah, it was kind of

doing it, but it looked

like it was a bit brutal. It was very

brutal. That was definitely the

case was

that. It was one of the things

I jumped in the car because of filming

and stuff. And I was like, right,

we'll get this done and then go out on the road

and do that. And I suddenly realized

that everybody was there

but many people were there. But from

already, we're all watching.

Everybody had come out and you were like, oh, I'm

the first person to do this, aren't I?

This is the first morning and I'm the

first person and everybody's like, okay,

is this sort of...

Is it just our engineers that can...

If we set up this donut thing and he's just

going to...

Yeah, exactly.

Are those walls actually quite close?

Yeah, it was pretty brutal

in terms of...

It does it, but it's

better the tires. I destroy the tires.

I think

three

goes sort of like this.

I wouldn't say I'm the heaviest

footed person, but it

kind of...

Oh, my word, I think I've just... But they didn't see...

It wasn't a sort of...

Oh, my word, what have you done?

It was very much, oh, we've got some more tires

around the back. Here it is again. Would you like

to have another go, sort of thing? Wonder where that

sits on how do you sustain a bit of TV?

Somewhere near the bottom.

But having said that,

they had the sort of

circuit set out as well, which, like I said,

narrow, concrete barriers and stuff,

and it was sort of like pretty slippery because

it's obviously nobody's used it. So it's how long,

so it's really dusty and you've got all the

Saharan

sand on it and stuff. But

it was really good fun

around there and actually sort of, you know,

that off throttle kind of turning, pick up

the throttle, you'd be surprisingly neat.

Yeah.

So although the headline images and stuff

were all a bit smoking around there,

actually it was really good around

that little circuit and had proper

balance and adjustability and stuff.

And that was really

nice and perhaps

should have made more of... The tech's going to come

to help Audi, hasn't it?

Yeah. Because

they had quite a bad rep a long

time ago, didn't they, for being quite inert and

didn't ride very well, didn't want to

turn in. When they did, they were very

just

one-dimensional. And now

there's much more nuance

and poise and

balance in the car, isn't there? It's partly

because they just put more emphasis on that,

but more recently

because they can pull all these different levers now, can't they?

Yeah. And the ride is really

good. It's got these twin valve

dampers that can obviously do

compression and rebound

independently and all that. And it's

yeah, again, Morocco

not exactly somewhere you would launch

a car if you weren't confident

in its ride quality.

And yeah, so... How much

is it?

£92,000, I think it starts

at. Then

obviously if you want to add on... So what's a representative

spec 110

or something? Yeah, there wasn't huge

amounts you could... You can't put much on

the cars. It's colours and wheels, isn't it?

All the packs are...

Calm ceramic brakes obviously you can...

That would... So let's say

you're going to spend £100,000 on it, probably.

And what's an M3?

Touring

in a decent spec.

Or what's your CS? CS

is... One is expensive

£130,000. How much do you do?

How much is it? £130,000.

It is a huge amount, isn't it?

So it's much more

in line with a regular touring.

How do you compare it to an M3?

What would you... An M3 touring?

Because the CS I think is...

CS I think is just... So

good. It's

that CS thing again of kind of

some of them who've been like, oh okay, it's not...

Is it really sort of justifying...

I think I said on the previous episode, I think

the touring

of the M3 and 4 CS is that we've had

the touring is closer to the

original M2 and M5 CS

that we rated. But I think there's something about

the touring generally, isn't there?

It's actually quite likeable. More likeable.

Yeah, I drove the Mono, there was a BMW

day and a while ago and I hadn't driven

a load of stuff. I hadn't driven an M5 actually.

And I went down and so I jumped

in all sorts of things.

Jumped in the standard touring and I was like, oh yes,

this is... It just feels

right straight away.

And then you jump in CS and oh my word,

they've done the CS thing and kind of...

But the touring has got

because it's got the M4

cab

rear subframe racing hasn't...

It just seems to

elevate it above the standard

saloon and coupes, isn't it?

And then the CS. But

you still think an M3 touring...

Yeah, I think...

X Drivers

a system to me feels

more...

It either does the all-wheel drive thing really effectively

but the balance of the car is still quite

sweet.

But then when you play around with it,

it still feels appropriate to the car

whereas the Audi stuff

is a bit more contrived, isn't it?

And it's not quite so

it's not inauthentic

but it's just a slightly old fit, isn't it?

It's exactly. The BMW

does feel more natural

in kind of just in its responses

and kind of...

and feels lighter, which is ironic

because it's...

It's less of a problem, I think,

in the touring because you

look at it and go, well, it's a touring

so therefore it's going to be heavier anyway

so there's some slight sort of

mental gymnastics going on now

I suppose with the numbers but

you still have a BMW M3

touring.

But it's your point at the very beginning, an RS

for the people that want an RS5

or if you're living with that every day, actually

it's not something

that's going to disappoint you and frustrate you, is it?

No, and in certain situations

for certain people out there, you know

if you can charge at home overnight

and you're actually

you're probably more likely to

use the EV only

hybrid aspect of an RS5

than you are the

handling characteristics

of an M3. Do you remember

there's that sort of so...

But you can't run in hybrid

you can't get pops and bangs

which

seems to be the priority for some

Audi demographic. It doesn't sound like that's the other thing

it does not sound great. No, that's

a massive great... I know

I don't know whether someone...

Aston had played with the size of it

they look like that.

And it does look really good as well so the whole car

I think the

RS5 does look...

I think the standard A5 looks really good

but the...

But it just sound is...

we know what it's like these days

they're all so restricted they have

to be.

When you're

sort of in transient

throttle inputs and

do you feel...

Is it always

a cohesive

sense of propulsion?

Like a homogenous propulsion

you don't feel anything tail off or...

No, it's much better than

because we'll come onto that. How are we going to make something

I think you can feel it in that and this is

much more

cohesive in terms of how it's all come together.

In fact it's got

the boost button

on the steering wheel which just kind of feels

like well it's F1 kind of

we've got to have the boost button but actually

I never really

got it with the 911 turbos

have the boost button and that

was just felt...

I've got so much performance here. You're going so fast.

Why do I suddenly

need it? But in this

it makes more sense

because you can drive around in EV

hit the boost button it gives you

wakes up the v6 because you're everything straight

and that felt somehow

there's such a

paradigm shift from

fully v2

the boost mode having everything

there that actually you can see a situation where

that might be

It's a different experience

isn't it? It's just

it just seemed to make more sense.

Yeah

Impressed? I think so

I think it will be interesting to see how

How do you think it will work? I mean I know the UK

wrote it absolutely bloody well

I would have worked in Europe instead

of North Africa I guess

Yeah I'll have to see

how it does on a bumpy

because that's where again you just know

that weight is going to play

Well that's the M5

against it so struggle isn't it?

Unless you've wound everything up

it never seems to

find a sort of a settled

bit of control

to itself isn't it?

It does fleetingly and then you feel the need

to fiddle around with the mode again

That was one of the good things

with this so you've got

your RS sport

you've got the dynamic comfort and auto

sort of road modes and then you've got

your RS mode so there's

torque rear

which is the one that will do all that

stuff but just put it into RS sport

click that and I just

I wasn't instantly thinking

oh it's got RS in the vision as well

so you can tune it and maybe

we'll once do that but

for that day I had it

and you can

have that and then

where does that sit?

Yeah so you can have RS individual

so you can then tune it how you

want but if you just go with what they've

Well that's good because they

pre-prescribed

settings sometimes can always leave you

after a while you think

I still need to go into individual and knock it back

I think the UK's standard thing is to have a

slightly spicy powertrain

and the softest dampers

unless you're going quickly and then you go up

one don't you but

I remember sort of with

some of the BMW's

you spend the first little while just

this sort of bad thing you definitely feel like

okay I want to find the

you've got breaking

you've got regen you've got steering

and it's in there

it's not a case of it never feels comfortable

but you can find what works

I think it's the knowledge that you can

adjust lots of things

means you're always thinking

well I think it could be a little bit better

but the pre-prescribed ones never quite

feel right whereas this one we like

okay well that's fine it seems to be doing

well that's encouraged

which is good so

good stuff

I haven't got any

don't have no John Barker today

so I'm still going to have a quick break

and then we will be back

to talk all things Aston Martin Valhalla

so we'll see you in a couple of minutes

we are

in this part going to discuss Aston Martin Valhalla

Karl it appears to have been around for quite some time

it's been a long time coming hasn't it

very long time coming

it was at Geneva Motor Show

Andy Palmer did his Danny Barhar

and said we were going to build the universe

and then it appeared in the

which Bond film?

No Time to Die

was it the one before that?

that was the last one wasn't it

it was in the wind tunnel in the background

because that was delayed as well

that was a Bond film

with cars that had been delayed

and then had come out

so it had prototype defenders by the time the film came out

that's right because they had one there

when we drove the DB5s

strange times

Valhalla so it's nothing like it was

when it was first released

it's changed considerably hasn't it

because there was a change of management

and I think engineering

have they had them with third CEO

since that car was

Andy was

in charge when they

announced it but that's

when they had Valhalla

and they had a vanquished concept

which was the baby mid-engine car

which is now

stylistically it's kind of what we've got now

feels like it's much more somewhere

between those two

was that also Val

Creeper was at Geneva wasn't it

yes it was so they showed

the whole family for the design language

yeah it was a big push

to create mid-engine

at the back of the start

Gondas wasn't it

everything they literally were going to

there's a kitchen sink in there somewhere

I think you'd still buy one of those

it's quite new in Aston Martin residents

no it's

it's been through many iterations

was that the submarine as well

or was that later

there was an Aston Martin submarine at some point

it was going off topic here

sorry it was wild times

there was yeah

cheese dream of a product

strategy

the pre-IPA

we can do anything give us your money

strategy

so yeah Valhalla then

where did you drive it

was it road track

both yeah

and then the roads near there

which are endlessly amazing

yeah there's some great roads

yeah northern Spanish roads

and yeah it was very good

it was kind of

weird

weird price point

that's one of the big things with it

I think it's been coming in so you don't quite know

where it's going to sit

because it's this 850,000

it either seems expensive

or it seems like they haven't charged enough

so you don't know

well I think James

our deputy was speaking to

Adrian Hallmark

one of the things he said when he came in

it's too cheap

he thinks they should be charging more for it

but there's that thing is it a

F80 competitor

or does it sit

at the top of the supercar

and it's that curious thing

where we've got kind of it feels like

that sort of anything over

1000 horsepower now

to my mind it's still

the vast point of entry isn't it

now for a certain category of car

I think it's a hindsight car isn't it

it's easy to say

we should be charging more for it

but that's now knowing

how good F80 is

and then how good Revuelto is

but they're very different cars

and you can see why

one cost this and one cost that

what blew my mind actually

was

how much a Revuelto is

when you've specced it with stuff

because it's like 400,000 ish

the one we had on Carly was 750 grand

something like that

we had 15,000 euros worth of car mats

a fourth yes the worth of car mats

because it was like a triple option car mat

or something ridiculous

so when you

now having driven it

prior to driving

Valhalla I wasn't sure

quite where it sat

and what it would be

but knowing how much

Revuelto's are

in a fancy customer spec

I think the

Valhalla is a

league above

I think it's a league above Revuelto

it's not

quite F80

because F80 is more Valkyrie

so you wouldn't expect it to be

more about 849 Testerosa

Ferrari's other mid-engine

super hypercar

I think it's

I need more time in the Ferrari

because we had terrible weather

and I didn't get much time on the road

but I think again

it has more about it

and just the

construction of it, the carbon tub

and

much more aggressive

and influential

downforce and the kind of

shifting character from

the mildest road mode to the most aggressive

track mode it's got much more

bandwidth I think

than the Ferrari so again

I think it justifies

the sitting in it

it's almost created its own

niche I mean I guess you'll be able to

bend a fortune with the Q on a Valhalla

as well won't you but I'm sure

I think

it feels

special

as soon as you get into it because it's got that seating

position which is

20mm lower than any of its

competitors and it does feel

it's magic when you drop into it

which is boring high heels kind of

which is what they always had

great

sorry

no it is a

open the doors up and the interior is really

again

it's a special thing to

sit in and clean and expensive

looking and feeling

great view

so it ticks

all those kind of

supercar, hypercar boxes

I don't know

it feels like mini Valkyrie doesn't it in terms of that

it's got to ask how does

is there any connection

with Valkyrie that you feel

I think just in terms of that

that's a very precise view out

and the seating position

but it's so much more

and I think it's more impressive

in some aspects

a more habitable

more appealing interior I think

and much more important to us than Martin in terms of

the fact that this feels like

it's got a bunch of technology

and just stuff

that can be taken into

future cars

I think quite a lot has got lost hasn't it

or got forgotten because the spec of the car has changed

so much but it's their first

PHEV

first dual clutch

transmission

so there's

and those things

are arguably more significant

as

what they enable them to do

in other cars

than the fact they're doing a

son of Valkyrie

and it feels

to me it felt on the

849 and stuff like that in Testros

it feels like it's on pace

with other

supercars, hypercars

kind of in terms of the technology and stuff

which Aston

produced some wonderful cars

but they kind of felt just obviously that bit

behind

certainly Ferrari stuff like that

they haven't felt sort of tech wise

I think it's really nicely integrated

though isn't it

Ferrari have always long

been a

they're like pathfinders aren't they technology wise

and it's become

the core of what they

do is it's a demonstration

of the very latest tech

and because it's Ferrari and because they've got that

track record

all their suppliers

they kind of get first dibs

on a lot of cool stuff

but I think the

and you have to understand

how to interact with that

to get the best from the car

I think the interesting thing with our

HALA is it's got a lot of that

but it's

forefront in what it enables a car to do

but it's in the background

so far as how complicated

the car feels to

dial into where you want it

it just feels quite natural as soon as you

get in it so all you're

doing is enjoying the

enjoying the feel you get

and the driving environment

it's quite a different

it's not

it's so different from Valkyrie

like Valkyrie is just like a

a

weapons grade experience

but this is distinct

I think from

from Ferrari

from Lamborghini from McLaren

there's a bit of McLaren in it

I was going to say there's quite a bit of McLaren so it felt like that to me

but anything kind of in a good

what I mean the engine sounds like a McLaren

because it's a cross plane

flat plane crank

4.0L

V8

but I think steering

feel and steering connection

and the support of the car

that sense of a carbon tub that you sit in the middle of

and you can feel the sort of suspension

working at all four corners

on the road it was because I'd driven the prototype

on Stowe circuit last year

and then first thing I did

was drive this one round from Navarra

so I sort of knew quite a lot it was coming

and sort of that lovely playfulness

we had cup two tyres this time

and

I was able to

on the road and track or just for the track

so just for the track so you said same car

S5 on the road didn't they I think

so had same car but they

switched the and same wheels but they switched the tyres out

between track and road which kind of

made sense

and I'd driven it on the

lesser tyres

Stowe so it kind of I had

I felt like I had the full picture

to that extent but you've

what I hadn't been able to feel before

but could feel this time was the difference

going from the sport

plus to

track or race, race I can't remember

whichever the top one is

because

the prototype only had the aero

already in it's sort of full

setting and it makes

such a difference kind of

as you'd hope but it's nice to feel that

massive step with the

wing coming up and you get

the full air brake

the brake, the braking is

such a cool feeling, feeling that air brake

it's rarely an element

of driving that it's something

you look forward to it's just like the thing

you have to do before you then start to do

the enjoyable stuff again but

just the stability

and the smack

when you hit the pedal hard it's

really, really impressive

and there's all the theatrics of the

the wing is quite busy isn't it

it's always sort of shuffling

around and then it's just

there under braking

and it's really playful as well

that's the other thing it's kind of got this

playful

nature to it which you just kind of

I don't think you'd necessarily expect it

to me it never felt like a kind of

out and out track car

but it has this playful

I think that's because it's approachable

I think the actual capability of the car

like I think

and what's interesting is

Ferrari are clever in how they do their launches

so Aston Martin had a different

Cup 2 tyre for track

and S5 for road

Ferrari with the 849

had an Assetto Firano

car with the multi-matic dampers

for track

and then the adaptive

dampers

totally different cars and different tyres

seats and kind of

you could

it is like driving two different cars

basically

it's like there's a challenge to Adale

it's so different

whereas the Aston

fundamentally

I think the surprise is you approach it as a

big

quite an intimidating car

as it feels intimidating as you're walking up to it

it does because it presents as

it's a wide loam

big doors, quite heavy doors actually

the assistants maybe need

a bit more room

but

then you get in it

and it is really

you almost immediately

forget about the size of it

and because you can see out really well

you can place the car

so it isn't quite

the cliche that it totally shrinks around you

but you're not always

like that

you're just threading the car down the road

which is very McLaren-esque isn't it

with that

and what Henry said about

that you can feel exactly how hard

each corner of the car

is working whether it's loaded or unloaded

somehow so you really

like you can read the road

and you can look

like you see a corner with a bit of a crest in it

and you look forward to the

sensation that you're going to get in the car

it's really

going back to what you said before

about the sort of

driving on the road that was the big

revelation for me

I hadn't expected to be so

good on the road just the ride quality

there was some big old speed bumps

and stuff going through the towns to get to this road

and we didn't go on any particularly prescribed route

it wasn't the zone

don't go there, kind of go here

it was so we just went to

and I didn't have to put

nose lift up just sort of

surely this is some sort of

magical Spanish speed

and you see all the scuff marks on it

this is

and everything works

so the nose lift is easy to find

and quick and there's manual

like physical

buttons that you can

switch the exhaust valve on and off

and it's easy to get into the

dynamic modes

and then they've carried over the same

sort of switchable traction control

so you can have it

very conservative

or you can wind it

right the way through to off

but it's like

Vantage and

DB12 and that

but you can really lean on it and

understand how it works and trust it

it's not like a

and it's really clever because they're using the

I know Alucard's doing it as well

but they're using the torque vectoring capability

or the regen

sorry capability of the electric motors

to

act as the traction

and ESP

so rather than nipping at the brakes

and feeling like it's inherently slowing you down

that way it's much more subtle

kind of intervention

through the electric motors

it's a flattering car

you know sometimes you know you're driving

well

like you just you feel you in

any car and you kind of have a bond with a car

and it's oh this is really good that's how it

that seems to be how

it's driving with it rather

and yeah and it's helping you

but it's not

it never really lets you go to go

it's just the

limit is quite elastic

I think what you were saying

about the integration of the hybrid

and the RS5 and I think

what you feel

the two systems much more

I felt in Valhalla in terms of you've got

these massive great turbos because they're much

bigger than the ones in the NG GT

black series

so there are times when you can have that

high gear

get on it you have the electric motors

and then you're still feeling the kind of the turbos

spinning up behind

but I actually

felt like

it felt like character in the car

it didn't feel like at times I felt like it

can be frustrating if I initially

it's just learning its behaviors

aren't you and what it does

and how it does it

but I think that is

I think you describing it as

like character

rather than a flaw I think that

because you feel the torque steer

off the front axle

you can feel it working can't you

but it's again it's quite nice because

it feels like it's proper feedback

rather than just something that's kind of

rather than doing something

I think that's quite telling

about the headspace that you're in

when you're driving the car because if you

if you inherently

feel like you haven't fully

bonded with the car then

you always see those things as flaws and things

that annoy you but if you

you're getting to know the car

and you're understanding how it does things

and what it's doing and it's all

there's never any

sharp

joins or

edges in how

hands over things and how the

torque vector is working

it's working it's a very

kind of organic

considering how difficult it is it's quite an organic

you've got that feedback through sort of carbon

tub and stuff you've got that feel

I mean things that

it's pretty low rev limit with 7000 rpm

certainly on track that's

and it's a hard limit that's not

the engine doesn't sound great

that's the one I think

to be fair

to what the Aston guys have done

they've made that

absolute most

out of that engine because

it wasn't very promising

because it didn't

it's sort of quite workman like in the black series

and I don't think you

the other thing is I don't think you drive around

as you certainly did with

the early

the early advantage with the Mercedes

engine and stuff you drive around thinking

this is an AMG engine I've got

sort of I'm in an engine with a massive engine

whereas now they can open them up

and do actual hardware changes

to them

you ever drove around in a

Zonda thinking

this is out of an S-class

exactly you don't sort of

like I say it reminded me more of McLaren

I think it's an

interesting car because

obviously the project

was initiated with

Andy Palmer

and then you had Tobias Merz which is the

sort of AMG

really changed isn't it

but then it was handed over to

Amado Felicia

and at that point

quite a lot of guys from Lamborghini and Ferrari

and McLaren

came to Aston Martin

I think one of the interesting things about you

talked about spec earlier on Valhalla

and actually in terms of the looks

I think it's again lifted above

it does have that sort of mini hypercar

particularly when you've got the big rear wing up

and stuff but

talking about Revuelto and how much you can

option it and stuff I asked

about right when he's head of

design sort of head of

kind of exactly

had he seen any particularly

good specs or

what was his favourite spec and he'd seen one

I think it was a purple one with

just gold sort of picked out because

there were all sorts of livery packs and stuff

and he said purple with gold

which he was like that's going to be

and saw it and actually I've seen

I've looked at quite a lot of the configurator

ones and it does seem

it can take something like really

outrageous instead of all quite racy

best one I've seen and it's probably actually

Gordon Ramsay's one which is super subtle

kind of so it's a really dark blue but with

a sort of light blue stripe on it

and that looks... they had a white one with a bright blue stripe

on the launch which look

yeah, Gordon's a mega doesn't he

he's been patbed and seen everywhere around London

but I think you can go either way

with it you can make it, you can go that full

sort of lime green

sort of one and you could make it

there is one look

is it blue and orange trying to look like

golf colours, that's why he doesn't

work, possibly

yeah I'd say, could we not have that one

for various reasons but it was

but yeah I think it's quite

a clever car like that you can

and interior wise you can have

chopped carbon finish

on the tub currently on the inside or

regular weave

and there's different bright work finishes

and it's just

and all the watt switches you have

the rotary controller and

that was one thing actually, I think the interior

seating position stuff aside did feel like

the interior wasn't kind of

it's those two screens

that it looks like you've got a vinyl and get one free

kind of, exactly the same size

it's quite plain isn't it, it lacks the

for that money

occasion maybe but it's a different

kind of

Lamborghini you've got the

shock and all stuff squared away haven't

they so you don't want to do all the trigger

guards and all that kind of stuff

and Ferrari has a very distinctive

look as well, McLaren

McLaren's quite minimalist isn't it

it's screen that you don't use because

it never worked but you've just got

they've gone down that paired back

he's a steering wheel with no buttons

he's an instrument pack that's very clear and nothing

on it and yeah I think it screens

isn't it, it's flat flat screens generally

are very

it just

uninteresting, yeah

still got the nice tactile switches

which we like from other Aston Martin's

but I think you know going in at that

price point and saying right does it

the exterior looks

looks like it's worth it interior

to me apart from the seating position

maybe doesn't

quite live up to that

but what does it sound like

because you mentioned on the R6

you know comparing the family estate car with the supercar

that was the thing that let it down

on the fellow halogen

inside there's a little bit of p1 about it

because you do hear it building boost

and releasing boost pressure and

you've got to be going pretty quick to kind of

you feel like you have to get everything pretty hot to kind of

go for it

but it has got some character isn't it

and I think really early

there was some early development footage of them

and they were whisper quiet

this one at least has some

I think mechanical drama when it

fires up it's not like a Revuelto

or anything I think that still

is very very hard to beat

yeah it's definitely

yeah it's not Revuelto it's not

hasn't got that spine tingling kind of

soundtrack but

they did say because

it's got no mufflers on it at all so it's got this

four exhausts

so the lower ones are valved

to keep them quiet but the top two

are valve because the pipe work

is so long that it comes out

splits to the

lower ones which are valve then goes all the way back up

through an 180 degrees before they

come back up the top so the pipe works so long

they don't need the mufflers on it

so all you're thinking at that point is

well surely somebody's just going

to go we don't need that much pipe work

up there and we'll just go

aftermarket exhaust

makers will probably be selling

quite a few to

Valhalla owners which is

you think all the

hoops they have to jump through noise

red wise and then

you think why can't you just

have it as a

post-registration option but I don't think any of them

really want to go there because it's

well the way that won't help because

you're going it's coming into more and more

cities of having noise monitors

like speed cameras so you'll just get pinged

for too much noise it's happening with

it works well in hybrid in just

EV mode actually I think

like trundling lights not too

it's got a good EV

going into the EV sounds but both

RS5 and this had

vaguely decent I think just

if you got used to

going back to WEC and stuff

those can't get used to that

race car

which is at least

a pit lane acceleration

not just something made up so

it

cruises well on the motorway

again Valkyrie is absurdly

noisy I think

you're not going to go on a long journey because you're going to have to have the RS5

behind you you've got to take your luggage

because you've got any luggage in them

because

there's nothing

they've looked at the competitor

set and they've gone to the Ferrari

on SF90 so what did they get wrong

we've learned from that and we've learned from this

but they're caught aren't they

because you've got the technology

and what you can do

you stuck between is it a touring car

or is it an ultimate

driving

supercar

with hybrid stuff

they sort of have to do that

unless they make it even bigger

at which point

you can't even stuff anything behind the seats

can you

and that's the sort of the

in terms of saying RS5 is one of those cars

but I think owners are really going to

love it because of the

sort of practical everyday work

you do wonder

my fear is that

it could be a bit like the

that looked like the fabulous

grand touring sort of thing that you could disappear off round Europe

and then discover that it literally had a briefcase size

boot on it because

they're not designed for it

I don't know it might be one of those

it might not be

I imagine Adrian Hallmark will have a solution for you

and it's called a DBXS

that follows you with your love

is it how

how's it going to make

Vantage

and DP12 and vanquish

feel dynamically

and how they drive because it's

you know as the Martin is

front engine GT super sports cars

and stuff and now they've got this

mid-engine super

hypercar is it going to be so far

removed because it's one thing Ferrari managed to do

they still managed to keep that

Ferrari character whether it's

middle front engine

does it feel like an Aston Martin when you're

we're learning aren't we

it's like the

you can kind of forget Valkyrie as a

related to anything

so this is the first

our first chance to see what a mid-engine

I don't think it feels like an Aston Martin

but I don't think that's a bad thing

well it feels like

a new mid-engine Aston Martin

because it's not a carbon copy

of any of them

so I think that's quite nice it is like the

new

the new essence of whatever they

do like you can imagine

I said to the guys

I love driving Valhalla but I'd

love to know what

296

like what a baby

version of that could be because if you can

take the best bits even just putting the dual clutch

gearbox into the

advantage or some of that

sort of you see how that elevates

it and all these things that they

I think it could be exciting

there's a lot of

you know yeah as I said before there's a lot of

significant things in the car

beyond

what that represents is a

I mean I don't know is it a super car is it a high car

I'm increasingly

it's somewhere in the middle doesn't it

that's the truth of it

it does exactly

you know it is

above

well they're all doing is that they're all position themselves

slightly away from anything that

you would consider a direct competitor

you don't have that comparison

because you're doing your own thing and

you'll take cherry picking

bits from different

different cars that most people would

consider a competitor but it's

I think it's probably

a cut above isn't it I think if you're

if you're in that

world and you turn up

somewhere in that car

with your

small wash bag

you don't

I think it makes more of a statement than

turning up in a

in a 750S or you know

it is of another

level I think which I think would be

important to you if you've just

dropped the best part of a million quid on something

but it's all part of that overall

experience isn't it

I think it's I can't think of anything that

does

quite what that does because an SF

19 never really

although they got better to drive

it never really resonated with anyone

I don't think as an

immediately recognizable

or desirable

Ferrari

Lamborghini obviously is a Lambo

isn't it so it just everyone knows

you've arrived in it but

yeah I think they're in an interesting

place

with this

driving it's that's two new cars

very early on in the year

both of them into

e-coachy or what are you thinking

you've driven both you've only driven

we were talking something that's going to happen in Bunstown

I would think if our

Hallorism would be a really interesting car

no it's got a tough act to follow with

Revwell to performance

last year but

yeah I went into driving

it thinking all is it going to

how would it stack up with lots of

different people driving it on lots of different roads

and then I came away thinking it's

it's really impressive actually

so I think it would be good

I don't know how these are always tricky ones aren't they

they're kind of yeah I think it would be

yeah it would be good to have it there I think it would be

interesting

and

probably surprise a few people

okay yeah that's good

that's good science well let's put them on the list

I'll put them on the list

and get them booked in well thank you very much

we'll bring this one to a close

Henry, Dicky and everyone else

thank you very much don't forget to subscribe

like

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we'll see you all next episode thank you very much

The problem with Audi RS5, WRC returns & Aston Martin Valhalla, with Henry Catchpole | Episode 44

About this episode

Pirelli

Audi Rs3

Audi RS5

WRC

read the road

Formula One

wet Grand Prix

Yaris

head gasket

Le Mans

onboard

rallying

stage

Downforce

GT3 cars

street circuit

donuts

EV

Aston Martin Valhalla

Geneva Motor Show

specced it with stuff

PHEV

McLaren

4.0L V8

track vs road tires

dampers

ride quality

exhaust valve

low rev limit

configurator

chopped carbon finish

Ferrari

Lamborghini

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